


Maybe (in the next life)

by bambejo



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 17:56:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6294151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bambejo/pseuds/bambejo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You've changed."<br/>***<br/>Time had been kind to him. He had more than a few wrinkles on his once perfect face and a few strands of gray in his raven hair, but he certainly didn't look his age. His body was the same as when they were sixteen - strong and lean, though like his face, the skin gave away that he wasn't the young man Sakura knew from a past life long gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe (in the next life)

**Author's Note:**

> I, unfortunately, do not own Naruto.

Sakura poured herself another glass of sake and rested her arms on the wooden table. Her shoulders were slumped and her head was bowed. No by-passer would‘ve guessed that the seemingly fragile woman was one of the most powerful shinobi in the world, the most skilled medic to have ever lived, having passed the legendary Tsunade years ago. There was no indicator that her strong and feisty spirit was still alive.

If they of course took a second look at her, they‘d know who she was. Her name was known by every foe and ally who called themselves a ninja and her looks were embedded into people‘s minds even if they‘d never seen her.

 _But how could this pathetic and now very drunk mass of bones be the great Sakura Haruno,_ people would think? No, they would just assume that she resembled the medic and move on.

Sakura wiped a bitter tear from her cheek and quickly drowned the glass of sake.

„You‘ve changed.“

Her eyes snapped forward and she momentarily absorbed every inch of him as if he was a cruel hallucination that would disappear in a second.

But even after what felt like a couple of minutes he was still there.

Sakura snorted in her head. _If anyone would still be that handsome at an old age..._

Time had been kind to him. He had more than a few wrinkles on his once perfect face and a few strands of gray in his raven hair, but he certainly didn‘t look his age. His body was the same as when they were sixteen – strong and lean, though like his face, the skin gave away that he wasn‘t the young man Sakura knew from a past life long gone.

His eyes were different too. She‘d seen them filled with sadness, with anger, with hatred, but now they seemed wise and maybe even peaceful. It was new and it looked good on him.

And he was right, Sakura had changed. _On the inside, she was someone unrecognisable even to her own self_. But not on the outside. Her body was that of her twenty-five year old self. Porcelain complexion and jaw dropping beauty. _Ah, yes,_ she truly was a gorgeous woman at that age, so she chose to stay like that for as long as she could.

_She hadn‘t had his gift of gracefull aging._

The silver in her hair, much like his, intertwined in the two long pink tails falling down her back were the only thing from her real look that Sakura had kept. But with a youthful face like hers, nobody dared to suggest that the speck of colour in her hair was anything other than a fashion choice.

Sakura lifted the almost empty bottle of sake and refilled her glass.

„So have you,“ she said in a quiet voice. Perhaps she should’ve been alarmed that he was there, right in front of her after so many years had passed, but she wasn‘t. For one, she was now finally an even match for him. She‘d love to see him try and fail to harm her, if that was his intention.

_She hoped it wasn‘t._

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut to stop more tears from streaming down her face and lifted the glass to her wet lips. „Naruto is dead.“

His look broke hers for a second as he sighed. „I know.“

„Are you mad that you didn‘t get to be the one to kill him,“ she bit out angrily and straightened up in her seat.

„Shut up!“

Sakura laughed.

She laughed so hard that genuine surprise showed up on his face. Well, at least now she could say that she got a reaction out of him at least once in her life.

She laughed and laughed until eventually the tears broke free. And then she cried.

For Naruto, for herself and for the boy from that past life that she couldn‘t stop. _That she couldn‘t save._

He waited patiently for her to calm down and then to say something. It was clear that he was out of words after her little breakdown.

„Do you ever want to turn back the time? To have a chance to do things differently?“

„Every day,“ he replied.

„Me too,“ Sakura whispered. „Do you think that we have a chance to change things now?“

„No,“ he said. „We‘re too far gone for that.“

Sakura chuckled and rolled her eyes, „Thanks for the encouragement,“ she said sarcastically.

It struck her that this was the first time since Naruto‘s death that she had laughed. And it was all thanks to him. _Ridiculous_.

Sakura thought she saw a faint smile tugging the corners of his lips as he spoke. „Aren‘t you gonna beg me to come back?“

„I want to... I should. It‘s what Naruto wanted until his last breath. But he never saw things clearly when it came to you.“

„And you see things clearly?“

„I do. You were gone long before you left Konoha and nothing that I say or do is going to bring you back. So I just stopped trying years ago.“

He nodded.

They stood in silence for what felt like forever before he rose from his seat.

„Will I ever see you again?“ she asked.

„I don‘t know. Maybe we‘ll meet in the next life, Sakura. Maybe then we‘ll do things differently.“

Sakura shook her head. „No. _**We‘ll do things better.“**_


End file.
